Washington girls basketball uses transition to race past Roosevelt
· Yahoo Sports
It took about a half for things to get rolling consistently, but the Sioux Falls Washington girls basketball team was able to get out in transition and run past Sioux Falls Roosevelt 69-43 on Friday, Feb. 20.
The Rough Riders were intent on getting the ball inside to 6-foot-3 sophomore Kalli Harris, which slowed the game down considerably. Roosevelt was able to hang around in the first half as Washington's half-court offense struggled to get going, but the Warriors still led 34-23 at the break.
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"You've got to give Roosevelt credit," Washington head coach Jamie Parish said. "The first thing that they did was kept going inside with the basketball, and that brought all of our kids down to protect the rim. Then it's a longer run when you have to get down and play physical."
The Warriors know they're at their best when they're out in transition and spent halftime trying to get to that more often.
Dana Harpe with a rebound off a Roosevelt miss and passes it to Josie Biteler for two. Washington leads 46-26 with 3:58 left in the third. Warriors have been cruising since they started to push the pace more. @ArgusSportspic.twitter.com/Oc2f29mvYa
— Paul Cifonelli (@PCifonelli) February 21, 2026
"When we went in there, we knew we could play better and we knew we could get good shots easily, but we wanted to get the best shots by swinging it, moving it, giving it multiple touches," senior guard Dana Harpe said.
Parish knew it wouldn't be easy against a gritty Roosevelt team that played hard, and stressed to his girls that they needed to run the floor wide and run their lanes to get the ball up the floor quicker.
"We were told they weren't going to roll over and die, so just had to do our part and keep playing hard and keep playing as a team," senior guard Rylan Kennett said.
Washington got out and ran immediately in the second half, starting the third with a 12-3 run to blow the game wide open.
"We're a team that thrives in transition," Harpe said. "We're a really long team. We'll get up the court in five seconds. I feel like that translates on defense. If we get a good defensive possession we're going out in our outlets, and I feel like that's working well for us."
The Warriors got a lot of their fast-break chances from their defense, whether it was on steals or long rebounds. Parish wanted his girls to force more 3-pointers to get longer rebounds, which came with Roosevelt sophomore Henlee Loof making a few. Despite that, Washington stuck in its aggressive 2-3 zone that has led it to a 14-3 record this year.
"We tried to go a little bit of man and they got a couple baskets out of it," Parrish said. "We're more comfortable in our zone. It's the thing that we practice, it's the thing that we stick to. We do give our kids a little bit of freedom in that zone to chase a kid. Our zone can change shapes and do some things."
Good ball movement leads to a Rylan Kennett bucket. Washington up 27-15 with 5:35 left before halftime @ArgusSportspic.twitter.com/qc2GZV9M2T
— Paul Cifonelli (@PCifonelli) February 20, 2026
Washington now has two consecutive wins after back-to-back losses at home against Brandon Valley and at O'Gorman. The Warriors are looking to play like they did in the second half the rest of the regular season and into the postseason.
"We need to play to our standard every game no matter who we play because that's the only way we'll get better," Kennett said.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Washington girls basketball uses transition to race past Roosevelt